Reading for Easter
4B: John 10:11-16
Good Shepherd Sunday
May 11, 2003
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
"O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads." (BCP 225)
Today is "Good Shepherd Sunday." Each year during Eastertide, the Church sets aside one Sunday to project the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. There are many ways to walk in this world. Some of these ways lead to peace and harmony, while other ways lead to restlessness and destruction of the created order. In spite of our ever-growing intelligence, we are not always sure which paths lead to wholeness and which paths lead to misery. This is because our egos have an incredible ability to deceive us. Here is where the image of the Good Shepherd comes in. As Christians, we believe that Jesus' words, works, and spirit, fully reflect God's will for humanity. Thus, if we follow in Jesus' steps (as sheep follow a shepherd), this will lead to an abundant life where love, and harmony with all creation, are the operating principles. Thus today, more than ever, as societies are making decisions that lead to inordinate human suffering and despair, we need to carefully listen to the Shepherd's voice.
Throughout history, there have been times when society has faithfully listened to the voice of God that was made manifest in Jesus. And there have been other times when society has not listened. The difference between then and now is this: In the past, people have heard the voice of God and have made the conscious decision either to listen to the voice or to ignore it. Today, many people don't even hear the voice. Has God become silent or is it that we have we lost our ability to hear? Today, I will continue my sermon series on doubt and agnosticism, using the insights of Ronald Rolheiser, author of the book, The Shattered Lantern.*
Over a hundred years ago, Friedrich Nietzche (one of the most notorious philosophers the world has ever known), presented the following scenario in his book, The Gay Science: A madman lights a lantern and in bright daylight, rushes into the crowded marketplace shouting: "I seek God! I seek God!" But the people in the marketplace laugh at him and say: "Is he lost? Did he lose his way? Is he hiding? Is he afraid of us?" The madman then turns on the crowd and shouts: "God is dead, I tell you. We have killed him, you and I. All of us are his murderers."
What does it mean that God is dead? Does it mean that God no longer exists? Does it mean that the concept of God is simply a psychological ploy to placate the masses? Well, not in this context. Nietzche was addressing primarily a Christian audience. When the madman said that God was dead, this meant that God had become absent from the ordinary consciousness and lives of believers. The murdering process that Nietzche's madman is referring to, is a process that has gradually taken place (almost imperceptibly) throughout many centuries. We are now at a place where God is no longer an integral part of the equation when making lifestyle, political, or economic decisions. Instead of having an awareness of God as that in whom we live and move and have our being, the air we breathe has become agnostic, even atheistic. We no longer have the cultural software that provides us with the tools to know and love God and to show forth this love in the world.
For many churchgoers, God is simply a moral and intellectual principal. Being unable to relate to God on a personal level where transformation is possible, people relate to God as a religion, a church, a moral philosophy, a guide for private virtue, an imperative for justice, or as a nostalgia for the right occasion. Many are willing to whip out the "God Card" at weddings, funerals, and in times of national crisis. But soon after the celebration or crises is over, the sentimental notion of God is discarded along with all of the leftover food and service leaflets. What it boils down to is this: God and religion are often given the same type of status and importance as is given the royal family in England. (i.e. They are nice symbolic anchors to have around but they are hardly important in the day-to-day functioning.)
What are the culprits that have stifled our ability to hear God's voice? Who are the murderers of God? According to Rolheiser, the culprits in the 21st century are narcissism, pragmatism, and restlessness. Narcissism is the excessive preoccupation with the self. Pragmatism is a utilitarian way of viewing life where truth and goodness is based on what is practical, useful, and efficient. Since I have already talked about narcissism and pragmatism in previous sermons, I will focus my comments on the culprit of restlessness.
Restlessness is the quality of being unsettled, unquiet, discontented. Even though our lives are busy and filled with activity, this sense of restlessness leaves us with a void of not really being fulfilled. Today, nothing seems enough for us. The simple and primal joys of living, of enjoying our home, our family, a hot cup of coffee, no longer are enough. As a result, we grow more restless, driven, compulsive, and hyper. Restlessness can be a normal part of the human condition and has the ability to motivate us to be more creative and industrious. However, restlessness is like body temperature; beyond a certain point, it becomes an unhealthy fever. In our Western culture, restlessness is pushing us beyond what is healthy. This affects our ability to hear, to know, and to follow the great Shepherd.
Greed for experience is a by-product of our restlessness. Our lives have become consumed with the idea that unless we experience everything, travel everywhere, see everything, then our lives are small and meaningless. We become impatient with every hunger, every ache, and every non-consummated area within our lives. We are convinced that unless every pleasure we yearn for is tasted, we will be unhappy.
Another by-product of our restlessness is impatience. Several years ago, before the demise of communism in the Soviet Union, a group of Americans were at the Moscow airport waiting for a connecting flight to St. Petersburg. Then, for reasons that were never explained to any of the passengers, the flight was delayed for 24 hours. Immediately, the Westerners became angry and in a panic. They rushed from desk to desk, demanding an explanation, phoning embassies, indignant of the delay. The Eastern Europeans on the other hand waited patiently, without anger, playing cards, laughing, and drinking vodka. Because of this impatience, the Americans were miserable for 24 hours, never experiencing or even thinking about the presence of God. What a lost opportunity!
A lack of chastity is another by-product of restlessness. Chastity is usually defined as something to do with sex (or the lack thereof). However, that is too narrow of a definition. Chastity is not primarily a sexual concept. Chastity has to do with setting limits. It has to do with choosing only those things that are appropriate for a given individual, at a given time. "There is a time to every purpose under heaven." It is important to know when that time is. To be chaste means to experience things respectfully, and to take them in only when we are ready for them. When we experience things irreverently or prematurely, we violate chastity. For example, we often give in to our children's impatience and demands and allow them every kind of experience they ask for: traveling at a very young age, purchasing every kind of consumer object, exposing them to whatever movies and videos they desire, dating at age 12, having sex at age 16. It is no wonder that many of our children are bored, cynical, and fatigued in spirit at the age of 20. Where is the longing and the willingness to wait for that which is most important?
Finally, the loss of interiority is the result of our restlessness. We have lost our ability to contemplate the meaning of life and to wonder at the mystery of God. Socrates once said that "the unexamined life in not worth living." Our time is taken up with so many things to do, people to see, projects to finish, emails to answer, appointments to keep. Our lives often seem like over-packed suitcases bursting at the seams. When we do not put aside the time or space to stand behind our own lives and look reflectively at them, the pressures and distractions of life simply consume us to the point where we lose control over our lives. This destroys the thread connecting us to God, heaven to earth. And as that thread dissolves because of our restlessness, our ability to hear God's voice, also dissolves. And in that moment, God is dead and we are his murderers.
What are we to do? St. Augustine once said: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in thee." This will be the subject of my sermons during the season following Pentecost.
*Much of the material in this sermon was gleaned from The Shattered Lantern, by Ronald Rolheiser, Crossroad Publishing, NY, 2001.
| Updated 5/14/03 |
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